Established by the European Commission

On the way to the top: Providing equal opportunities to men and women in science and technology Workshop- Brussels 2 December

Portraits of selected ERC 2007 Starting Grantees

The Gender Balance Working Group •  ERC Scientific Council:

  Isabelle Vernos (Chair)   Athene Donald   Carlos Duarte   Reinhard Genzel   Carl-Henrik Heldin   Helga Nowotny   Anna Tramontano

•  ERCEA:   Severina Shopova

ERC’s mission is to support excellent frontier researchers across Europe, irrespective of nationality, gender or age.

Three main objectives:

  to raise awareness of ERC gender policy among potential applicants in all research fields

  to identify and challenge any potential gender bias in the ERC evaluation procedure

  to improve the gender balance within the ERC’s peer review system

Gender Equality Plan

Established by the European Commission

Monitor submission rates of women & men by country Share women StG applicants vs. women academic staff in Grade B, by country of host institution

Grade B: " Researchers working in positions not as senior as top positions (A) but more senior than newly qualified PhD holders”. (She Figures 2012)

Established by the European Commission

Monitor submission rates of women & men by country Share women AdG applicants vs. women academic staff in Grade A, by country of host institution

Grade A: "The single highest grade/post at which research is normally conduced." (She Figures 2012)

Established by the European Commission

All ERC calls 2007-2013 (without SyG and CoG2013) 25 % of the applications from women 20 % of the grants to women

Withdrawn and ineligible proposals not taken into account

Established by the European Commission

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Comparing success rates of men and women by type of grant – cumulative data

Established by the European Commission

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All ERC Advanced Grants: Success rates per country of HI

Established by the European Commission

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All ERC Starting Grants: Success rates per country of HI

Established by the European Commission

“The medium term goal is to achieve gender balance in each ERC evaluation panel as well as among the panel chairs. This may take time, and will also depend on the overall gender balance in particular research fields. In a first step, the ERC will aim at a better gender proportionality in each ERC evaluation panel as compared to that panel's relevant scientific communities.” (ERC gender equality plan 2007 – 2013)

Gender balance in the ERC peer review system

ERC calls 2007-2013 (without CoG2013) for applicants ERC calls 2007-2012 for panel members

Comparing the share of women panel members to the share of women applicants by ERC domains.

Established by the European Commission

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Women Success Rate Versus Gender Balance in Evaluation Panel

Vernos I. Nature. 2013

ERC aggregated data 2008-2012

Established by the European Commission

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Applications:

  Gender aspects in career structures and paths CSA2012 ERCAREER"Capturing career paths of ERC grantees and applicants » VUA (NL) – in collaboration with IAB (DE) and UEA (UK)

  Maternity allowance: increased to 18 months per child

Evaluation:   Gender balance of evaluation panels

  Briefing of panel chairs and panel members on unconscious bias   CSA2013: ERC practices and processes in the context of gender mainstreaming and in particular during the proposals' submission and peer review.

ERC SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL GENDER EQUALITY PLAN 2007 – 2013 – EXAMPLE OF STEPS TAKEN OR FOLLOWING

  Review format of application forms:  no self evaluation section  Applicants highlight a restricted number of significant publications

Monitoring / Visibility

Established by the European Commission

On the way to the top: Providing equal opportunities to men and women in science and technology Workshop- Brussels 2 December

SESSION 1: Improving gender balance

Moderator: Prof. Isabelle Vernos, ERC Scientific Council

Prof. CURT RICE

Prof. GERD BJØRHOVDE Prof. LONDA SCHIEBINGER

Mrs. SARAH DICKINSON Dr CLAARTJE VINKENBURG

SESSION 2: Targeting gender bias

Moderator: Prof. Athene Donald, ERC Scientific Council

Mrs BARBARA KIMANOWSKA Mrs. VIVIANNE WILLIS-MAZZICHI

Prof. TERESA REES Prof. INÉS SÁNCHEZ DE MADARIAGA

DR GERLIND WALLON

SESSION 3: Lessons learned

Moderator: Prof. Isabelle Vernos

Prof ALISON WOODWARD, Observations/Summary Questions and discussion